“-and I just think Luna has just gotten too obsessed with sex lately. I don’t know if this is because she’s matured or because she’s awakened to her succubi nature. But frankly, I don’t always know how to deal with it.” Van admitted as his double took notes on a plush chair. “And another problem is… I don’t know if that’s a bad thing… she’s so much happier than she was before…” he then turned his head to look at his double from the couch he was laying on. “Is it bad that I kinda wish for a little bit of the old Luna back?”
The double wrote a few more things down on his clipboard, nodding to himself before putting it down and addressing Van’s concerns. “It’s not wrong to wish that, Van… but the real question I think you are worried about… is how you feel now, correct? And your worry for Luna?” leaning back and placing his hands together on his lap, looking at his true self and speaking with a tone of surety. “You’ve almost spent a month reframing from any and all sexual intercourse… and while at first, it was… hard… you are beginning to feel… otherwise… correct? So it scares you a little that Luna doesn’t feel the same…”
Van felt a little uncomfortable for a few seconds before agreeing. “Ya… at first… it was hard… but after a while… I actually felt like my head has gotten a lot clearer than before. While on the other hand, Luna actually seems to be suffering… and yet…”
“And yet Luna seems to be improving her aura at a faster rate than you…” the double finished for Van. “Van… before you awakened to your incubi nature… you were largely disinterested in sex other than to do it as a duty… sometimes of course… there were exceptions… and when you did do it, you enjoyed it… but you never really actively sought it out... Until now… and now that you had some time to take a step back from your new desires, you feel more clear-headed than before… while on the other hand, the opposite seems to be happening to Luna… so you worry for, at the same time, you are confused as to why her growth in aura is greater than yours. You are scared and jealous, your feelings on the matter are jumbled up, am I correct?”
“I don’t know… but I am confused…” Van admitted. “I feel like if Luna really wanted to, she could survive a month without sex no problem… but… now… I'm not so sure… it could be that only because it’s denied to her she’s acting like this, otherwise, this wouldn’t be happening to her. Not to mention, her aura is increasing by leaps and bounds… aren’t we experiencing the same restrictions? I knew her growth was crazy… but I didn’t know she was a genius when it comes to aura and hand-to-hand martial arts…”
“Well… you just answered your question right there.” the double said. Making Van look up once more. “Van… you admitted she’s a genius when it comes to aura and martial arts, and you admitted you feel clear-headed after almost a month of abstinence. Surely you can figure out why now, right?”
The double the looked his true self in the eye. “Van… the difference as to why she grew faster than you is because to you, it’s not a real challenge… while for her… it’s a really hard thing to do… to resist having sex with the man she loves more than anything… that’s hard…” teasing Van a little.
Van blushed a little at that. “Ya… maybe you have a point… but about that other thing I mentioned…” he asked worriedly.
The double took a look at his notes. “Yes… you are worried that Luna has somehow gotten dumber, correct? I can’t fault you for that, but…” looking back at Van. “I believe all she needs is some help… a lot has changed for the both of you in just a few months… before you, two didn’t really have the time to grow accustomed to it, or acknowledge it, or grow into your new selves… I think you two should talk to each other about your worries and come to a conclusion yourselves to not just help Luna but the both of you. At least that’s my advice…”
He took another look at his notes. “And there is also your fear that the amount of women you have is getting too hard to handle, and that you feel that you are more being used than loved, correct? Well… you don’t need to worry about that… the women of this world love their male's hundred and ten percent. It may be hard… but try to rise to the challenge. I know you can…” He then put his clipboard away with a sigh. “That’s the end of today's session. It’s been almost two hours and I'm tired. Please take what I said into consideration… we can discuss all the other things at a later date… have a good day…”
Van slowly got up. “You too… and thanks… it’s new to me… doing this… but oddly enough… I feel a lot better after these sessions… so thanks… again…” he said somewhat awkwardly.
The double shrugged. “It’s honestly no big deal… I’m literally not telling you anything you didn’t know about before… just helping you come to terms with it…”
“Ya… but still… thanks…” Van said again, making sure he had everything on him and getting ready to leave. “Have a good day.” giving one last goodbye, then promptly walked out the room.
“Goodbye…” the double said, in the same bored voice he always seemed to have.
Van then got ready to visit Xan since he had an appointment with him for another training session. He quickly flew to his castle, walked through the hidden door behind the throne room and entered the portal to meet his new sensei. Or at least that’s what he likes to be called from time to time, don’t know why he bothered giving Van a name to use if he wasn’t going to use it.
“Hello Xan, i’m back for a few more tips on using the flicker step if you have the time,” Van asked.
Xan was there, now waving around a fan and looking oddly prideful for some reason. “Don’t call me Xan, call me… sect leader…” he said with grand aplomb.
“Sect leader?” Van asked, confused.
Xan nodded happily. “Of course disciple Van, I’ll be glad to teach you the mysterious ways of cultivation! You should feel honored that one such as I would take time off his busy schedule to teach you!” waving the fan around.
“Umm… right…” Van said, realizing that Xan must be roleplaying or something. “Only a few days and already he’s acting silly… perhaps having no one to talk to for so long does that to a person… I should ask Ren about creating a central hub or something for all my past lives to visit each other… maybe that will help them out a bit…” he thought, hoping that would be all it would take.
“Anyway… I just want to master this flicker step at the moment… I don’t know about the cultivation part just yet…” then Van perked up as an idea came to him. “Also, are you sure you don’t know anything I can do to improve my aura? Nothing at all? Or someone who could?” now looking hopefully at Xan.
Xan looked a little crestfallen, but showed interest in Van’s question about aura, giving it a few seconds of thought with a tilt of his head before answering.
“Hmm… increasing aura…” Xan said out loud thoughtfully. “I’m not sure I can help you much on my end… All I know about is cultivation… I probably know as much about it as you do…” he admitted.
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Van looked a little crestfallen himself now.
“But…” Xan began.
Making Van perk up once more.
“I do know someone who could help you… do you remember that… What's the word for it? Knight?” Xan said as if trying to remember something from far away. “He was also there when that fight over your body began so many years ago… he is supposedly a sword master of great renown… more importantly… he is a master of aura… if there is anyone who could teach you about increasing your aura power, it would surely be him,” he said helpfully.
“Oh, and don’t worry. Like me, he too has mellowed out some. Or… at least last I heard… we don’t get out much…” he admitted sadly.
“Thanks, Xan, that’s really helpful,” Van said kindly, truly thankful for the help.
“No problem!” Xan said. “But call me sect leader! Alright?”
“Yes, sect leader!” Van said, playing along.
Xan looked immensely pleased. “Right then! Let’s get you through some warm-up exercises and go right into the flickerstep!” he said somewhat excitedly. “By the end of the day, you’ll not only have mastered the flickerstep, but surpassed it!” confident of his skills and knowledge in teaching Van everything he needed to know.
And for the next few hours that was what happened. Xan watched Van like a hawk, circling around him like a predator, seeking out any and all weakness and faults and striking at them with such quick swiftness that it was like his fan never moved and it took a whole second for the pain to finally register.
“Ow!” Van complained as Xan whapped him with the blunt end of the fan again. And each time Xan hit him it would be followed up with a critique of his form…
“Three centimeters to the left! make sure to flow to the right when you take that step! stop thinking with just your feet, put your whole body into it! You're too focused on your lower half, your upper body also has to do its work! Your muscles are too taut! Relax them! Your body is too relaxed for that part! Fix it! Why are you moving like that!? This isn’t a dance! NO! You have to step like this! As if you're dancing!”
Whap! Whap! Whap! Whap! Whap! Whap! Whap! Whap! Whap! Whap! Whap! Whap! Wahp! Wahp! Wahp! Whap! Whap! Whap! Whap! Whap! Whap!
“Someone… please kill me…” Van groaned inwardly.
“Okay… that’s enough for today.” Xan finally said after four hours of training. “While you didn’t master it as soon as I thought you would… you did make lots of progress!” he said happily. “Why don’t you take a break and meditate on what you have learned, and then show me before you leave.”
Van was so relieved he almost fell to the ground, his body sweating like crazy. After fifteen minutes though, he was forced to get up once more and show Xan what he had learned so far.
“Okay Van, you can do this…” Van thought to himself, trying to pump up his self-confidence a little. He then closed his eyes and took a deep breath before letting it go. Going over everything he learned and all the mistakes he made. He then opened his eyes…
Slowly, he began to move, carefully taking his steps one at a time. Every few seconds, he would take his speed a notch higher, going faster in measured intervals. Faster and faster he went, until his body began to blur, not because of his speed, but because he was getting harder to track… Soon, Van was making micro jumps all over the place in a controlled circled area.
And that’... when it hit him…
He was being too… controlling… now that he was actually paying attention to his body as it moved through the forms. He found a certain… wildness to it like it hated being so… predictable… if a set of forms had emotions…
“So… weird… it’s as if… the form hates acting so predictable… there’s a certain… desire to it… to move as it wishes… to move like a wild animal but better… like a fly that suddenly leaves your sight due to effectively sliding out of your vision… and a tiger wanting to pounce, willing to jump around and use its environment to its advantage… to use your whole body… to use your enemies gaps in vision and perception to your advantage… right before their very eyes… I think… I get it now… ”
Van… disappeared… he didn’t go faster… he simply… slid out of view… like a fly… and like a tiger… he gripped the ground in a way that allowed him to glide on it… and appear right behind Xan…
Xan smiled… not even needing to look back. “Congratulations Van… you have mastered the flicker step… and it only took you at most a week… now you understand… what I’ve been trying to teach you…”
He then turned around to address Van directly. “Mind you, you still have a long way to go if you want to truly utilize and master it the way we do on my world… but for this one, I wouldn’t mind if you go around claiming you were taught by one such as I when it came to that technique…” Xan said rather smugly.
“Everything else though… please… don’t say I taught you… just the flicker step…” He quickly added, as if there was still much to find fault in Van’s other techniques. Though partially, he was just teasing his student.
Van was really touched by Xan’s words up to that last part. Where he just rolled his eyes at it… but he still couldn't help but feel rather proud of this accomplishment, even with Xan’s teasing.
In the end, Van decided to ignore that last bit by Xan and just thank him instead. “Thanks, sect leader.” trying to do that hand-to-fist thing Xan liked so much. “I’ll make sure to put this technique to good use in my fight with my father.”
Xan nodded sagely. “You did good work. Still rough around the edges… but you improve quickly and are a smart student… make sure you use what I taught you well, and you will never be defeated!”
“I’ll make sure to do that. Thank you again.” Van said.
“If you ever change your mind about learning cultivation. Just tell me and you’ll be shattering mountains and splitting the heavens in no time.” Xan chuckled lightly.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Van said, “see you!” waving goodbye as he phased out of Xan’s miniature realm and found himself back in the memoriam room.
He was standing there for a few seconds more, trying to catch his breath. It always felt weird, that transition took some getting used to. He then walked out of the room to talk to Ren who he hoped was still out and about.
“Hey, Ren,” Van said upon noticing him, walking over to better converse. “Have you put any thought into what I said last time? About making a central hub of some sort?”
Ren looked up from a panel he was looking at that was filled with numbers and some sort of spreadsheet. He closed the application and gave Van his full attention, opening up another screen that floated between them. “You're talking about something like this, correct? Something that would allow them to meet and stuff, right?” he asked.
“Sadly, at the moment there is nothing I can do… it’s not as simple as just creating a whole new place and connecting everything up.” Ren said. “When you go to meet them, it’s more like you're falling into a memory… a memory realm if you will, where there is no real space or time… only information… if you wanted to, it could be a great place to train, just don’t expect to grow your muscles… at most you can only take what you learned out of it. I mean… if you actually gave each one of them their own miniature realm, it would greatly surpass whatever your soul realm could handle…”
“Another issue is that… the whole reason so many went crazy was because their memories were all over the place. Crashing into each other and getting mixed up, driving them mad…” Ren looked apologetically at Van. “Sorry Van… the most I could do at this moment is create some sort of communication network for any that wants it. So that they could talk to each other if they desire… but the truth is, not many are going to use it… some might not even appreciate it… and the vast majority are asleep anyway until woken up…” he then sighed.
“I’ll work on it, don’t get me wrong… but it’s going to take a little while longer. Though… you are right that they do deserve the opportunity to socialize if they want to…” Ren gave a kind smile. “Honestly speaking, It wouldn’t have ever crossed my mind to do something like this… thanks, Van…”
Van was a little confused. “Why are you thanking me? I didn’t do anything other than ask if it was possible.”
“Maybe… but if I was in their shoes… and I lost… I still would like to at least talk to someone…” he then smiled wider. “That way there would be more chances to play co-op on my games with others!”
“Of course…” Van replied as Ren tried to make a joke out of this. “Anyway… thanks for taking some of your time doing this. I’m going to go back in and see someone Xan suggested I should meet to grow my aura more quickly. See you later.” already saying his goodbyes.
Ren nodded. “See you later Van. I’ll tell you when I’ve completed the setup. But don’t expect it anytime soon. At least a few more weeks. Okay?” turning back to his screen.
“Alright… bye…” Van replied, walking back to the Memoriam room. He then closed his eyes… searched for the stare he was looking for… and was in a startling new place…